The first of the firsts from this year’s Ellerslie International Flower Show have been announced, as the Focus on Flowers photography competition winners take centre stage.

The Overall winner, and winner of the Landscape Category, is Kim Falconer from Motueka, for Bedtime Stories.

Kirkwood Intermediate School student, Kelib Brown (aged 11) from Ilam in Christchurch won the under 15 with his stylised image of a bee on a rose flower.

Ellerslie International Flower Show Exhibition Manager, Kate Hillier, says the competition provided brilliant opportunities for people to show their creativity and incorporate the beauty of flowers into their art.

“I have been excited to see the highly imaginative and technically brilliant work this year – the standard of photographs is exceptionally high.”

A French Kiss in Akaroa – Ben Hoyle, Blue Gecko, Wellington took out the Gold award in the Exhibition Garden section

The council’s entry in the Zealandia National Flower Bed competition, which required teams to create a garden representing their region, impressed the judges.

“It tells a real story and stands out because it is so well finished,” said judge, Renee Davies.

Ashburton District Council took out silver with their horse-themed garden, while Otorohanga District Council and Christchurch Botanic Gardens earned silver distinction and bronze for their entries.

The quality gardens at the show have wowed judges, with a total of eight winning prestigious gold medals.

Several designers from Christchurch and Wellington, as well as designers from the UK and Auckland Council, took home gold.

Convenor of judges Andrew Fisher Tomlin said the top awards have been given to a wide variety of exhibits.

“Each designer has followed their own heart,” he said.

“I am very impressed by the big ideas and simple messages this year’s designers are showing at Ellerslie.”

The flower show starts today in North Hagley Park and runs through to March 10.

Organisers hope the Christchurch Ellerslie International Flower Show will go off with a bang – just like it used to, before the quake.

Judging of the more than 80 displays at North Hagley Park continued yesterday, after months of planning and work from local and international designers.

Doors open to the public today and the show is expected to bring its annual boost to the local economy.

The Ellerslie Flower Show brought in a whopping $14.9 million in 2009, with at least 50 percent of visitors coming from outside of the city.

Whether those numbers stand up in post-earthquake times remains to be seen, with organisers lamenting the loss of visitors.

The show has been struggling to sell the same amount of tickets in recent years, with only 1 percent of visitors coming from the North Island last year, down from 10 percent in 2009.

The show’s managing director Dave Mee said the event has been “rebuilt from the ground up”.”We’re hoping that it starts building back to what it was, in terms of attracting visitors, but I think it’s going to be a slow build to be honest and I don’t think it will happen overnight.”

Mr Mee said he hoped to sell somewhere between 45,000 and 50,000 tickets. “We’re about halfway at the moment and that’s sort of on par with last year, well, it’s probably a shade up on last year.”

But Christchurch and Canterbury Tourism chief executive Tim Hunter said the event is still a strong international attraction, as it cements the Christchurch reputation as the “Garden City. It is often hard to quantify the value of events like Ellerslie, but it’s a great marketing tool for Christchurch and a fabulous event,” he said.

Crowds can expect new attractions come Wednesday, organisers say, including an award-winning display put together by award winning, film production studio Weta Workshop who did the Peter Jackson films.

From ballet shoes to gardening gloves

Lincoln University landscape architecture students Tenille Picket and Justine Carey thought outside the box when coming up with the design for their quirky rooftop garden.

The two childhood friends, who met at ballet class when they were five, are hoping to use the Ellerslie International Flower Show as a launching pad for their careers as landscape designers.

Bridget Robilliard and Kate Street flat together and are both in their final year of studying landscape architecture at Lincoln University. They have decided to put their design flair to the test by entering the Emerging Designers – Student of the Year competition at this year’s Ellerslie International Flower Show.

This year’s competition pits students of landscape, design and horticulture against each other to see who can come up with the best design for a rooftop garden.

Brigdet and Kate say the design they have come up with is designed to appeal to socially active young men as the garden features a dart board, a hide-away football table, and barbecue facilities.

They have incorporated old cinema chairs seats from the Rialto Theatre in Christchurch into the garden, refurbishing them so they look new, but still hint at their past.

“Our design is focused very much on the resurgence style currently appearing through Christchurch. We have used materials that are old and refurbished them to give them a new purpose and look,’’ says Kate Street.

To win the competition Kate and Bridget will have to outperform some of their fellow students at Lincoln University as third year landscape architecture students Tenille Picket and Justine Carey are also entering.

The pair says they thought outside the box when coming up with the design for their quirky rooftop garden.

“Our design is very quirky. We have a number of bespoke sculpture-like ideas which incorporate lighting and plants as materials. Our main point of difference is that our space is transformable. The main elements are moveable and can be put together to form different furniture options,’’ says Tenille Picket.

She says she and Justine decided to enter the competition because they both enjoy exploring unique design solutions are at the point in their learning where they wanted to see a physical manifestation of their ideas.

“This is a great chance to get our names out there. We are both very motivated and strong willed in what we like and feel this is a great opportunity to present our way of thinking to the public/potential clients,’’ says Tenille Picket.

Horticulture apprentices Johanna Blakely and Max Campfens both work at Ambrosia Nurseries and got a taste of Ellerslie last year when they helped to set up some of the corporate gardens. This year they are forging out on their own by entering their own rooftop garden into Emerging Designers competition.

Johanna Blakely says as soon as she read the client brief for the competition she knew she wanted to design a space that would appeal to her Sydney-based brother.

“Throughout the design process, I have planned the garden for him. “Jake’s Garden” is designed for my brother’s return to his home city.

“The garden is viewed through the open french doors that invite you in. It is a relaxing space, created for people and easy entertaining. A balcony effect at the rear of the garden creates the impression of additional space beyond the walls.’’

Johanna Blakely says one of the exciting features of the garden is the newly discovered and extremely rare Wollemi Pine. Found in New South Wales in 1994, this pine is one of the oldest tree species according to fossil records.

A garden inspired by clever reuse has won the Judges’ Supreme Award at this year’s Ellerslie International Flower Show.

Convenor of Judges Andrew Fisher Tomlin said the garden Revolutionising Reuse designed by Christchurch’s Rebecca Hammond and Grant Stephens (H & S Design) stood out amongst the other exhibits.

The pair also took out the Supreme Design award.

Tomlin said the garden exemplified excellence in design manifest with integrity from concept through to design detailing.

Tomlin said there was no distinct theme this year, “each designer has followed their own heart”.

“We have a vastly diverse range, from gardens like Revolutionising Reuse with amazing recycled elements, to sophisticated and slick gardens like Modern Day Moa.

“I am very impressed by the big ideas and simple messages this year’s designers are showing at Ellerslie. They demonstrate a deep understanding of core design values, as well as high quality material finish and horticultural excellence.”

“I am a firm believer in new designers leading the way and with so many innovative new takes on gardens at Ellerslie this year I can see people saying, ‘I never expected that, but I could do it at home’.”

Singled out for silver distinction medals were Auckland designers Adam Shuter and Tony Murrell, Christchurch designers Jay Van Lent and Stephen Mapletoft and the Otorohanga Council for its colourful floral Buzzy Bee.

Otorohanga has successfully branded itself as New Zealand’s official Kiwiana Town and choose the classic children’s toy as the theme for its award-winning garden.

Silver medals went to Kapiti Coast children from Raumati South Primary School and Christchurch landscaper Scott Fletcher, Lincoln University’s Ryan Morton, the Asburton District Council and a second team of CPIT bachelor of architectural studies students.

In the Hort Galore category, gold medals were awarded to Christchurch Woodturners’ Association for their Alice’s Adventures in Woodland: After the tea party, the NZ Alpine Society and the Christchurch Bonsai Society.

The Floral Art category gold went to Annika Horgan, from Nectar in Tai Tapu.

The Auckland City Council took top honours in the Zealandia National Flower Bed competition for its Auckland, the City of Sails themed garden which included a sailing dinghy cutting through the sparkling water of the Waitemata Harbour.

The Ashburton District Council received a silver medal for its themed garden which picks up on the district’s role as a leading centre for harness racing and is called Harness Jewels, complete with a horse and sulky.

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